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Thursday, May 31, 2012

Rappan Athuk Castles & Crusades Campaign

Well, I've been planning it for a while, and I have finally kicked off my Rappan Athuk/Bard's Gate C&C Campaign. I love these adventures from Necromancer Games, and I feel they fit a more Old School game far better than the 3.0/3.5 system that they were designed for.

This campaign's an amalgamation of Bard's Gate region materials/2E/'91 Black Box materials and kicks the party off with "Rising Knight." I have taken the liberty of modifying "Rising Knight" materials to fit the Rappan Athuk mythos. Take a wild guess at who the "Horned God" has become.

The first session was actually a pre-rising knight session and consisted of one player test flying the system. He is a good friend of mine, originally weened on 2E and 1E material and wanting to return to that style of play. We kicked him off on his own so he could "test the waters" as you will, of Castles & Crusades. Since we did not have the entire group together yet, I ran an initial adventure for him, adapting the 1991 D&D black box module "Escape From Zanzer Tem's Dungeon." My friend rolled up a half-orc barbarian that would make Robert E. Howard proud.

The opening of the story see's this barbarian warrior delivering a basilisk to one Zanzer Tem in the city of Bard's Gate. Upon delivering the creature Zanzer placed a spell upon the half-orc and had him shipped off to Zanzer's personal salt mines. Where no reason was ever given for the existence of the mines, I have given it a sinister one, funding the revival of Zanzer Tem's patron deity (again, guess who.) Along with a blinded cleric and the ass of con man, Axl, the PC made his escape, to find himself far to the south of Bard's Gate.

The Campaign, as I currently see it will be comprised of my own plots and story overlaying the following:

Escape from Zanzer Tem's Dungeon (TSR)

Rising Knight (Troll Lord Games)

The Wizard's Amulet (Necromancer Games)

The Crucible of Freya (Necromancer Games)

Tomb of Abysthor (Necromancer Games)

Rappan Athuk (hopefully the new edition that is currently being worked on!) (Frog God Games)

The Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga (TSR)

And possibly moving into and ending with

Throne of Bloodstone (TSR)

The Modular style of Castles & Crusades allows me to easily incorporate all of these supplements into one large Orcus based game, and still fit well into my OSR mentality and feel that I want for this game. (You'll see where Baba Yaga comes in as I write more of the player's experiences.)